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Does faithfulness add value to an adaption?


Kenshin_sama

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So, I've watched the movie Koe no Katachi very recently, and as someone who hasn't consumed the manga, I'd honestly say I somewhat fell in love with its performance. One thing that stood out to me though was the amount of hate it received for the amount of content cut from the original. I've also heard arguments from readers that the cut content actually enhanced the experience by removing the parts of the story that weren't too significant. Personally, I would have felt better if there was a little more focus on Shimada because

despite the key role he played during the elementary school scenes, he had little to no development after that and the scene at the hotdog stand kinda felt like it was shoehorned in there.

But that wasn't enough to significantly deter my enjoyment of the movie. And the reason this doesn't sit so well with me is because I haven't seen any of those critics provide any substantial reasoning for why the cut content bothered them so much, and I think the reasoning behind that is the association of faithfulness with quality. Hence the reason I made this thread.

Now there are times where I do think a more faithful adaption would've added more to the story with Elfen Lied as one of the many prime examples. Quick disclaimer: this is something I watched the anime adaption of first before reading the source. For that series in particular, I felt that the adaption was very mediocre and I didn't like the way it ended. I wasn't even planning on reading the manga either until a friend of mine talked about how the anime was cut off before the story picked up, and about how the ending was completely original. Well, as it turned out, he was right. The manga is still one of my favorites to this day and it's one of the cases where cutting content from the manga did severely cripple the experience in the adaption. And I later found out that the anime was originally planned to be 2-cour, but was cut short due to its lack of popularity, which explains the rushed ending.

And then of course there's the famously faithful second adaption of Fullmetal Alchemist, which is widely and adamantly accepted by the community as one of the most faithful adaptions to date. Not only did it supposedly (I haven't read the manga myself) follow the manga to a T, it managed to do so while delivering a grand and memorable experience due to its interesting plot and a well-developed cast of characters.

However, I'd also like to put some focus on the lackluster adaption of Little Busters. Now, you'd think that with all the buzz going around about how faithfulness equates with quality, one would think that the adaption of this popular Key game would have had a great reception. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Even though the anime did manage to capture all the main elements to make the story work and didn't differ from the source that much, it did so in a very lackadaisical manner and delivered a product that, while still relatively decent, did not hold up to the original. And why is that exactly? Because the direction was slop and the budget for this series was noticeably low. Now I get there are people that'll hate the anime because they generally hate Key, but this was poorly received even among fans of the original.

I don't think it's purely due to faithlessness that the Elfen Lied adaption did so poorly. I disliked Elfen Lied not because it wasn't faithful, but because it couldn't stand on its own as a well-written story, and the manga did. And even though Little Busters was a faithful adaption, I still did not view it favorably because it couldn't stand on its own and any quality is did have can be mostly attributed to the source. But see, I think there are a lot of people in the anime community that, due to the lack of quality in certain adaptions, have associated faithfulness with quality, and have become overly critical of shows that aren't as faithful as they could be. And as this behavior becomes prevalent in the anime discussion scene, those who have not yet formed their own opinions on the matter may become influenced by this way of thinking. Another common behavior I've noticed is the desire to read a source material when a noteworthy adaption has been announced. Though it might just be due to general curiosity, I think there might also be an incentive to read a manga for the sole purpose of comparison to the adaption.

And see, the reason I bring this up is because I think it might be an unhealthy way to consume anime. Adaptions can't always be perfect, and I think that if one were to take this approach to watching anime, it might severely damage an experience that might have otherwise been enjoyable. That and I feel reading a source material first kinda spoils the excitement that comes with not knowing what happens, and one might be inclined to view it even more critically. Additionally, if popular opinion dictates that an adaption should be faithful, it might cause producers to cut corners on delivery in order to keep it faithful. On the other hand, comparing an adaption to its source also provides something a little more tangible to talk about in discussion since voicing one's opinion on how they feel towards an anime can be a little uninteresting and pointing out flaws within the series without something to compare it to does require an analytical mind. And without meaningful discussion, there are fewer opportunities to connect with others, and that's something I'm sure many forum-goers or commentators desire when posting their reactions. So who knows, maybe it's not entirely without merit.

With all this in mind, I'd like to get to know everyone's thoughts on the matter. How would you personally react to not-so-faithful adaptions? Why would you feel that way? Would you be happy with a mostly faithless adaption if it come out great? Are there any other theories you might have in regards to how others react to faithfulness in adaptions? My views on this topic probably aren't as objective as they could be since I very rarely read a source material before watching an adaption, so I'd be very interested in getting to know more about any opposing views that anyone might have.

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I'm going to read your post soon, as I'm busy now, but just to answer your main question, it depends a lot. Adaptations mostly mean to take a story from a medium to another, and from that point it is almost impossible to keep the same vibe from one to the other. Besides that, the medium itself affects a lot how the story is portrayed. A movie is meant to be visual (audial? too), while a book does not offer this experience. So, whenever we see an adaptation of a book to the cinema, it is obvious that the way readers build the world in their minds is going to differ from what the director presents on the screen. It needs to take away the imaginative aspect from the source material to make a good transition to the screen.

That being said, even if an adaptation tries to follow the same storyline from its source, sometimes it may be impossible since the medium is different. Also, an adaptation allows the story elements to be reworked in a way that may improve its original concept. I've watched Gakkou Gurashi anime while reading the manga, and obviously it differed a lot. However, the transition to the screen was good, because it dealt with the mysteries surrounding the story/characters in a satisfatory way for those who watched it weekly. I disagree with some decisions they took with one of the main characters' personality, but the way they overshadowed the main quirk of the protagonist was done way better in the anime version.

Well, I'll come back later to the thread and share more thoughts :D

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11 minutes ago, Silvz said:

I'm going to read your post soon, as I'm busy now, but just to answer your main question, it depends a lot. Adaptations mostly mean to take a story from a medium to another, and from that point it is almost impossible to keep the same vibe from one to the other. Besides that, the medium itself affects a lot how the story is portrayed. A movie is meant to be visual (audial? too), while a book does not offer this experience. So, whenever we see an adaptation of a book to the cinema, it is obvious that the way readers build the world in their minds is going to differ from what the director presents on the screen. It needs to take away the imaginative aspect from the source material to make a good transition to the screen.

That being said, even if an adaptation tries to follow the same storyline from its source, sometimes it may be impossible since the medium is different. Also, an adaptation allows the story elements to be reworked in a way that may improve its original concept. I've watched Gakkou Gurashi anime while reading the manga, and obviously it differed a lot. However, the transition to the screen was good, because it dealt with the mysteries surrounding the story/characters in a satisfatory way for those who watched it weekly. I disagree with some decisions they took with one of the main characters' personality, but the way they overshadowed the main quirk of the protagonist was done way better in the anime version.

Well, I'll come back later to the thread and share more thoughts :D

Sure, take your time. I look forward to your later reply. :)

And yeah, that's a good point. Each storytelling medium has it's own unique form of presentation, so it might also be possible that people just prefer one format over the other, and they may just be looking for another method of validating their opinion. That's also a good point to make on why an adaption shouldn't be so strict in sticking to the source, because what works for that medium may not work for another.

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I take adaptations as they come.

If it is a faithful rendition then I watch it so as to see all my favourite moments animated. I generally do not care for much else, so long as the story and characters are the same (and they're in character, of course).
Others seem to care about different factors: I don't see what the problem with the Little Busters! adaptation is, but 'tis true that popular opinion of it is not very good.

If it is not, then I watch it to see its take on the characters and setting. This has a much higher chance of going wrong, because 1) A viewer would not know what, exactly, to expect, and it could simply be bad and 2) it could not be bad per say, but it could contradict the themes/ideas an other version of the series was trying to convey. Imagine that a studio picks up a serious series and makes it all happy and light-hearted: This isn't necessarily bad, but fans of the series will most definitely have their expectations betrayed.
Even if it is in the same style as the original some people are actively looking for faithful adaptations. They want to see their favourite epic moments in this new medium. Some also want not to be bored with all the not as exciting moments and are looking for some original content. In short, some people don't know what they want.

As for cut content, that's a bit of a problem. If it's trying to be faithful but cuts out content then... not terribly faithful. In those cases a fan simply needs to decide whether the cut content was important and/or relevant to the story, and this depends on what the fan thinks -- people who are watching for the first time aren't affected by this. Another case that occurs often is altering content, generally keeping things the same, but adding elements to streamline or "increase appeal". Once again, this wildly varies depending on what you're looking for, assuming you're a fan of the series.
Unfortunately, these latter two seem to be the most common, and they have a giant propensity for "defiling" the original. Not dissimilar enough to attract new fans, but too dissimilar to make the old ones happy...

 

If you're looking for a recipe on what makes a fan like adaptations of stuff they love, I'd say you're out of luck, as it appears each has, like with everything else, his own opinion. Some want things to remain faithful; they just want to see that story they so love once again. Others do not mind changes, but not if they make the story worse and such. Some don't want to watch the same thing again, and want something new (this also depends on the source material; some things work well with an episodic format or with arcs, and therefore original content could be made without diverging too far from the original).
Then there's also one problem I hate: X is good, but when compared to Y it's not... Therefore, X is bad. Replace X with 'adaptation' and Y with 'source material'. Something 'good' being hated on because 'it could have been better' is one of the arguments I hate most in everything ever and such, but it does reduce people's enjoyment, especially fans who have seen it done better.

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33 minutes ago, Silvz said:

So, whenever we see an adaptation of a book to the cinema, it is obvious that the way readers build the world in their minds is going to differ from what the director presents on the screen. It needs to take away the imaginative aspect from the source material to make a good transition to the screen.

I'd just like to take a moment to vent - Bourne movies, worst book to movie adaptions ever!

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I'm almost like a medicine, I have to be taken in small doses.

I cannot comment on Little Busters, but Rewrite left a sour taste in my mouth, so maybe Key games are doomed somehow to have bad adaptations (except for Clannad). Rewrite is a bad example on how adaptations should work: they had to put five 10-hour-long routes and a large common route in 13 episodes, and instead of trying to do that well, they added new content in the last episodes of it, making all original content be compressed in only 6 episodes or so. Even worst, they took away main plot points, such as

 

  the destruction and recreation of the world each time you played the game, Kotarou being on the two sides of the fight, Kagari stopping being a mystery to be just a moegeish girl, and important character's development, mostly with Chihaya.

I couldn't even start watching S02, as most reviews state that it continued being as bad as the first.

This scenario is NOT what I described as a medium transition, but poor choices from the staff who developed the anime version. Cutting or changing details to make the episodes flow is one thing, to take away major parts of the story and making it badly is another. I would totally defend Rewrite if the final result was good, but besides what I already said, the anime version was terrible, with many missed jokes, poorly animated parts and the worst 3D monsters I've seen in a while - which, by the way, did not fit at all in the 2D world of the anime and should be totally scrapped out.

Another famous example of a disaster was the first Percy Jackson movie. They changed: the age, personality and body characteristcs of the characters; the main story and some side elements; the main villain (YES, THE VILLAIN), the objective of the characters; they even put monsters from other books from the series in this movie, even though they should NOT be there. Basically, a total mess. So messy that when they did the second (and final) movie, they "semi-rebooted" everything, as if 90% of the previous movie did not happen. Being the final movie, you can guess what happened next, right?

Edit: Also, not always faithfulness mean it's going to be good. City of Bones had the original author working in the production of the movie, and it still failed and had to be reboot as a netflix series.

Edited by Silvz
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14 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Others seem to care about different factors: I don't see what the problem with the Little Busters! adaptation is, but 'tis true that popular opinion of it is not very good.

I myself didn't view it as harshly as most others and I still gave it an above average rating. But the thing I take issue with Little Busters is that the director was more concerned with the anime being faithful than he was with taking full advantage of what could be done in an anime. As a result, the drama didn't deliver the same emotional impact that the VN did, and I think it was too dependent on the source to make itself presentable. I did take my bias into consideration since it was one of the few adaptions I had watched after reading the source, so I asked a friend, whose views generally align with mine, what he thought, and he felt roughly the same way. Good, but underwhelming compared to other Key titles. It's sort of hard to objectify my opinion of this series though since even the VN is more driven by emotional appeal than it is about story.

25 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

If it is not, then I watch it to see its take on the characters and setting. This has a much higher chance of going wrong, because 1) A viewer would not know what, exactly, to expect, and it could simply be bad and 2) it could not be bad per say, but it could contradict the themes/ideas an other version of the series was trying to convey. Imagine that a studio picks up a serious series and makes it all happy and light-hearted: This isn't necessarily bad, but fans of the series will most definitely have their expectations betrayed.

Which begs the question: Why even go into an anime with expectations at all? Whether you've read the source beforehand or not, having higher expectations can only lead to disappointment if the adaption fails. But going in with no expectations at all will help encourage open-mindedness and be more accepting of the changes being made to help the story fit in a different format.

31 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

it could not be bad per say, but it could contradict the themes/ideas an other version of the series was trying to convey.

But wouldn't that only be a problem if you didn't view the adaption as a standalone? Personally, I don't think the adaption would contradict anything as long as it follows its own set of rules, because I think it should be as independent as it wants to be. Whether it wants to be it's own anime entirely, loosely based on the source, or entirely based on the source, it's fine as long as it's enjoyable. Shouldn't creative freedom be encouraged?

35 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Some want things to remain faithful; they just want to see that story they so love once again.

I definitely do agree with your point here. Sometimes one's only motivation to watch an adaption is to see the same story twice, but in a different format. And while I don't necessarily do this myself, I don't think it's necessarily wrong either.

41 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

If you're looking for a recipe on what makes a fan like adaptations of stuff they love, I'd say you're out of luck, as it appears each has, like with everything else, his own opinion.

Right, but what I'm mostly picking at is the mindset many people have regarding adaptions. Are they bashing am adaption's faithfulness just because everyone else is? Is there a reason the lost content bothers people so much? Are perceptions of faithfulness hindering sense of enjoyability? I doubt there are that many people that put a lot of thought into this, and I think they may benefit greatly from doing so.

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I'm disappointed that adaption is considered valid spelling for adaptation even for Americans.

But that aside, this is a debate that rages endlessly and you'll never convince those who want the original faithfully portrayed in film that they're going to get a lesser product. In my opinion different formats require different treatment and adaptation of manga to film or anime warrants modifying it in the way that best suits the altered medium. The same goes for (live action) films and famous novels. Some of the greatest film adaptations of famous novels are wildly different from the original book yet considered masterpieces. A classic example would be Blade Runner versus Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

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14 minutes ago, ittaku said:

But that aside, this is a debate that rages endlessly and you'll never convince those who want the original faithfully portrayed in film that they're going to get a lesser product

You sure about that? Humanity's not so far gone that there aren't any open-minded people left. I know, I've had several conversations with others on the internet that have either changed the way I think, or they themselves have changed their way of thinking. There are some people that will ardently believe what they want no matter how much sense you make, but if you keep pressing on with a sound argument, I do believe a debate can be reasonably settled more times than not.

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

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Just now, Kenshin_sama said:

You sure about that? Humanity's not so far gone that there aren't any open-minded people left. I know, I've had several conversations with others on the internet that have either changed the way I think, or they themselves have changed their way of thinking. There are some people that will ardently believe what they want no matter how much sense you make, but if you keep pressing on with a sound argument, I do believe a debate can be reasonably settled more times than not.

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

That's the old man in me speaking in generalisations. I don't literally mean never.

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Long story short, I think it depends on multiple factors, including but not limited to, time and budget. Simply put, most animators cannot squeeze in all of the material from the source because it would take up a lot of time and money to do so, which is understandable. And many companies are on a schedule to get an episode out on time for it to be broadcast on air and distributed across the media. 90% of the time, they'll try to make the adaptation as close to the original source as much as possible, but then you get the oddballs that contradicts the original sources which often spark debates.

One example I can remember is Black Cat. It's fairly obscure, but when I watched the anime, I fell in love with it. For years, it would remain in my memory as a very good masterpiece until one day, I've decided to read the original manga source for nostalgia, and the changes I've found were VERY surprising. I've learned that the anime adaptation deviated away from the original source a lot, so much so that listing all of the changes would take up the whole post (I suggest looking it up to save time). Many of the main characters traits and origin stories where altered, several plot elements have been removed and exclusively added, and there's even an additional arc at the end of the anime adaptation that did not happen in the manga. This has changed my perspective on faithful adaptations, and has lead me to be more aware as to what changes I would be expecting. Does this mean I hate the Black Cat anime now? No. If anything, I see both the manga and the anime adaptation as two sides of the same coin, so they offer completely different experiences.

The only example I can remember not liking at all in the slightest is the Ariolus Izard arc in A Certain Magical Index. This is because I've read the original light novel first before jumping into the anime, and when I did, I was not impressed with the decision to cut most of the arc out, including the part where Touma and Styl went up against Ariolus' clone, who can turn anyone into liquid gold by touching them with a chain arrow. That is perhaps the darkest moment in the light novel even though it was just an illussion, so when the anime just cut to the chase of dealing with Ariolus himself and removed the dark aspect of the arc, my enjoyment factor just dropped. I heard the manga is even worse with it because it removed the entire arc outright.

With that said, I think it also depends if you have or haven't seen the original source before jumping into the adaptation as well. It can determine your enjoyment factor with the adaptation and how well you can fondly remember enjoying it or not.

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3 hours ago, KonpekiUmi said:

One example I can remember is Black Cat. It's fairly obscure, but when I watched the anime, I fell in love with it. For years, it would remain in my memory as a very good masterpiece until one day, I've decided to read the original manga source for nostalgia, and the changes I've found were VERY surprising. I've learned that the anime adaptation deviated away from the original source a lot, so much so that listing all of the changes would take up the whole post (I suggest looking it up to save time). Many of the main characters traits and origin stories where altered, several plot elements have been removed and exclusively added, and there's even an additional arc at the end of the anime adaptation that did not happen in the manga. This has changed my perspective on faithful adaptations, and has lead me to be more aware as to what changes I would be expecting. Does this mean I hate the Black Cat anime now? No. If anything, I see both the manga and the anime adaptation as two sides of the same coin, so they offer completely different experiences.

Holy smokes, I haven't heard about Black Cat in a while. A friend I knew in high school use to love that anime too, but sadly I never got around to watching it. I probably will once my PTW is cleared. (Oh man, remember the days when Gonzo made good anime?)

But I hear ya, I had a very similar experience with Karin. I started watching this anime around the time I was hitting up random Chatango rooms asking for recommendations to satisfy a newfound rom-com craze I developed after watching Toradora, and Karin was one of the anime suggested to me. Watched it, loved it, thought rom-coms were the greatest things in existence, then I moved on to others in the genre and became even more obsessed, and eventually I lost my innocence after watching Clannad. But Karin always stood out to me in its own unique way and never really left my mind (it still hasn't). So eventually I decided to check out the manga about 2 years later and I pretty much came to the same conclusion as you did with Black Cat. There were some key plot elements that were kept in the adaption, but it differed so much from the source to the point that the atmospheres on opposite ends of the spectrum. The version of Karin I viewed in the anime was light-hearted, sweet, and every bit a 2006 rom-com anime. The mangaka even requested that the adaption have its own original character who would compete with the protagonist in a love triangle. The manga, however, did not have any love rivals, and it was a lot more thick in the way the story was told. It was dark, and it had a bittersweet ending that completely threw me for a loop. It was very interesting though, and definitely a lot more thought-provoking than the adaption. To me, they were both very good on their own merits, and I'd probably still enjoy the anime if I ever decided to re-watch it.

And wouldn't you know it, both our anime aired right around the same time frame. I guess anime producers back then had little to no care at all about sticking to the source back then, which might be a reason their work tends stand out a little more. Not to say they aren't enjoyable, or even great for that matter. But I still get the impression that anime producers have picked up some nasty habits by playing it safe and avoiding risky creativity.

3 hours ago, KonpekiUmi said:

With that said, I think it also depends if you have or haven't seen the original source before jumping into the adaptation as well. It can determine your enjoyment factor with the adaptation and how well you can fondly remember enjoying it or not.

Ya know, I'd have a hard time arguing against that myself since I've never really enjoyed an anime that I've read the source material for. Hell, even with Shokugeki no Souma, which I started out watching the anime, but then I got super hyped and started reading ahead in the manga. Once I read a fair amount of the manga, I stopped caring about the anime, lol. I guess it does have that kind of affect on ya. That being said, whenever I didn't like an adaption, it's usually one that isn't viewed very favorably, so it might just be coincidence on my part. Now while there is a fair bit of division on this subject, some of the people that read Koe no Katachi beforehand were praising the movie and claiming it to be better than the source. And the only arguments I read opposing this viewpoint basically mentioned scene removal, but no one ever really expanded on why that bothered them so much.

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16 hours ago, Kenshin_sama said:

I myself didn't view it as harshly as most others and I still gave it an above average rating. But the thing I take issue with Little Busters is that the director was more concerned with the anime being faithful than he was with taking full advantage of what could be done in an anime. As a result, the drama didn't deliver the same emotional impact that the VN did, and I think it was too dependent on the source to make itself presentable. I did take my bias into consideration since it was one of the few adaptions I had watched after reading the source, so I asked a friend, whose views generally align with mine, what he thought, and he felt roughly the same way. Good, but underwhelming compared to other Key titles. It's sort of hard to objectify my opinion of this series though since even the VN is more driven by emotional appeal than it is about story.

Since I watched it to see all my favourite moments animated, I did not have too much of an issue, and rather liked it.

16 hours ago, Kenshin_sama said:

Which begs the question: Why even go into an anime with expectations at all? Whether you've read the source beforehand or not, having higher expectations can only lead to disappointment if the adaption fails. But going in with no expectations at all will help encourage open-mindedness and be more accepting of the changes being made to help the story fit in a different format.

But wouldn't that only be a problem if you didn't view the adaption as a standalone? Personally, I don't think the adaption would contradict anything as long as it follows its own set of rules, because I think it should be as independent as it wants to be. Whether it wants to be it's own anime entirely, loosely based on the source, or entirely based on the source, it's fine as long as it's enjoyable. Shouldn't creative freedom be encouraged?

Right, but what I'm mostly picking at is the mindset many people have regarding adaptions. Are they bashing am adaption's faithfulness just because everyone else is? Is there a reason the lost content bothers people so much? Are perceptions of faithfulness hindering sense of enjoyability? I doubt there are that many people that put a lot of thought into this, and I think they may benefit greatly from doing so.

Therein lies the problem. With everything.

It shouldn't, but the existence of a "source material" affects one's enjoyment of an adaptation. It's not something people can just avoid. Just another application of my final sentence in the previous post.

Ideally, things would be judged for what they are and nothing else, but that's not what happens. "Faithfulness" is a useful concept, but a lack of it should not lead one to dislike the material. It does, because it often leads one to think "it could have been better", even when such is not true. People who complain about lack of faithfulness have already been 'spoiled' about a version of the story: they know what happens and how, and thus its harder for them to clearly see how a removal of a scene would make the overall product 'better', so to speak. It seems likely that the ones who complain about a lack of faithfulness are the ones who thought the original material was good -- if it were bad, they would not care; therefore, it's not an inherent less=bad or not faithful=bad argument, it's also a mix with fandom and cult behaviour of "How dare you defile my favourite manga! Where's the scene where the main character was brushing her teeth in the morning?! Without it the entire story loses all meaning!!1".
There's still plenty of more reasonable people who think "Scene A was boring and served no point, I hope they leave it out in the adaptation" or some such. Or simply do not care. As always, I presume these to be the silent majority.

All of those points you mentioned are points I made as a hypothetical reaction a fan might have to an adaptation, for people who never watched/read other versions are not affected by said issues. I'm sure not all fans fall in these categories. I don't, for instance, and like to simply take things as they come. Changes aren't a problem so long as the overall product is good.
But I don't believe any fan can be completely unaffected when watching an adaptation of something they love. If a fan doesn't think it is as good as the original there will be that small inkling in the back of your mind that will affect your enjoyment. Somebody who already knows the whole thing is less likely to be involved "in the moment", and instead may be looking at the big picture the whole time, and this affects how one perceives things. Experiencing a faithful adaptation is definitely affected by how good the material is at being rewatched/reread: Some products are simple entertainment or thrillers or emotion-hooks that aren't meant to be as good (or at least the same sort of experience) the second time around. A more vocal fan may try to latch onto any available excuse, such as how faithful it is or is not.

So yes. I maintain the initial ideas I had about fans. Some want to re-watch things just in another medium; some want to watch all the good bits in a different form but don't care about the rest; some want something new and different done with the IP. The first two groups are the most likely to complain at the lack of faithfulness (the second group if a scene the person wanted to see didn't make it). Finally, when any fan feels that they aren't enjoying it as much 'isn't faithful' is the easiest excuse to use, even when it may not be the correct one in any particular case. All of this is exacerbated by the fact that even when the product the adaptation creates is good, but not as good as the original, fans are more likely to label it a bad product or, more commonly, a bad adaptation. Again, the cause is generally attributed to lack of faithfulness, for its easiest to identify.

I have no particular opinions one whether transitioning between media should require large changes. I haven't looked, but I can think of no particular examples where a transition between mediums would be impossible or heavily degrade one of the versions (except for more apparent things like an anime about colours transitioning into black and white manga -- and that's still manageable! There's no lack of manga about music and other topics manga is not necessarily equipped to reproduce).

 

This all said, I'm not very good at talking about such abstract and hypothetical concepts, so if anything makes no sense, do not mind it.

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